Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Jackie's June Creations - A Layout and A Mixed Media Gift Bag and Card

Hello Blue Fern Studios Fans! Jackie with you today to share my June Blue Fern Studios projects. I've had a blast playing with the new Ombre Dreams papers, and I have two Ombre Dreams projects to share with you today, but I'd like to start off with a very dimensional layout using Blue Fern Gardens.


I've mentioned before how much I love the thickness of these papers (and if you haven't had a chance to pick up some Ombre Dreams paper, they are printed on the same paper) because of how well they take media, and I've piled it on again here, with gesso, mists, inks and watercolour paints.


I matted my photo collage using two layers of Blue Fern chipboard, starting with one of the Beaded Strings circles. I painted it with a thick gesso (because I find super heavy gesso spreads so much easier with better coverage), then added some touches of watercolour paints, and then added a bit more gesso once those were dry to tone everything down a little. I also added some grey ink to the outside for definition.


The second layer of my photo mat is one of the Quatrefoil Garden Panels. I cut it in half lengthwise so that I could have a border both on top of and below my photos, and painted it with a shimmery acrylic paint.


To create a horizon line across my page, I used a piece of one of the Jeweled Page Dangles left over from another project. The links are coloured with chalk ink, and I used some of the shimmery watercolour paint I used on the page to colour the flower, and topped it with some bling.

Blue Fern Studios Products Used:

- Blue Fern Garden: Picnic
- Blue Fern Chipboard: Beaded Strings, Jeweled Page Dangles, Quatrefoil Garden Panels


With Father's Day just around the corner, I set out to make a masculine gift bag, though in the end it turned out a little too colourful to be truly masculine, but I love it!


I combined Blue Fern Garden and Ombre Dream papers for this one; they work so well together! After I built my base layers, I added strips and squares I cut from scrap pieces and the cut-away strips at the bottom of the papers, and added random colour to the sides of all of these.



I then added stencilling, stamping and splattering to the background along with some sewing thread.


I coloured the Grand Balloon Chippy with several different colours of acrylic and watercolour paints, layering them on until I was happy with the effect then adding some gesso to help to tie the piece in with the background. 


See the wonderful texture from the acrylic paint? Some metal pieces provided nice finishing touches to the balloon.


 Blue Fern Studios Products Used:

 - Blue Fern Garden: Signature, Timeless, Parlour
- Ombre Dreams: Susan's Dream
- Blue Fern Chipboard: Grand Balloon


I so enjoyed making the gift bag that I decided to make a card along the same lines, this time using one of the Eastern Lanterns, and one of my favourite colours, orange.


On the Grand Balloon chippy I achieved the texture by dabbing with my finger in the wet paint; with this one I held my heat gun close to the acrylic paint to cause it to bubble and create this gorgeous effect. I then added some modelling paste and gesso to enhance the aged effect.


I treated one of the Leafy Page Accents in a similar manner, though I used a copper mist instead of the orange acrylic as my base colour (I applied clear gesso to the piece first, so that the mist would sit on top instead of seeping into the porous chipboard).



Blue Fern Studios Products Used:

- Blue Fern Garden: Parlour
- Ombre Dreams: Susan's Dream, Shannon's Dream
- Blue Fern Chipboard: Eastern Lanterns and Leafy Page Accents

Thank you for stopping in today!





Monday, June 9, 2014

White Wash

Hi everyone!  It's Valerie today with a few layouts using the amazing new collection from Blue Fern Studios -Ombré Dreams.  After I created my first two layouts, I realized a pattern.  I was treating all the chipboard pieces with white paint.  So I kept with that trend for all 3 layouts.

For this layout,  I wanted to keep things simple and really let the photo and soft background pattern show through.  I have used the Wild Flourish Bundle which was painted white.  I first primed the chipboard with gesso, and then painted it with Titanium White paint.  I find it gives a whiter white than just using gesso.  
This paper is Leslie's Dream
 

To add a little color, I brushed some orange ink on the edges, which you can see better in the close-up image below.


This image shows the glorious goodness of this paper!  Aren't the details amazing?



For my next layout, I chose the beautiful blue Susan's Dream paper from the Ombré Dreams collection, since my niece has such beautiful blue eyes.


The following 2 close ups show the Twilight Garden Frame, which I cut in half.  I tucked one half to the right of the photo, and the remaining part of the frame can be seen to the left.  I primed these pieces, painted them white, then stamped them with a script stamp.  Instead of using black, I used a softer gray chalk ink. 



I inked the Calligraphic Border with one of the same colors of distress ink that I used with a stencil.


For my third layout, it was pink all the way!  I began with the Shannon's Dream paper.  I chose the less patterned side of the paper because I wanted to add some book paper and lots of mist.


I used several pieces of chipboard on this layout.  Initially I painted them all white, but ended up applying embossing powder to some of them.  Here you can see the lamp from the Second Hand Furnishings set.  I used some chunky embossing powder on this one.  You can also see a piece of the Leafy Page Accents that I cut into several pieces and used throughout the layout. 


Here I have used one of the Ornate Medallions, which was painted white and embossed.


In the main cluster I have used the Ornate Medallions, Doodle Flowers and Leafy Page Accents, which I have painted white.  A few of them have also been heat embossed.


Once again I used gray ink and mist on this layout.  I really like it instead of black on light colored layouts.

I hope you enjoy your day, and thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Ombré Dreams with Camilla

Hi! Camilla here with two projects. And guess what... I am using the new fantastic Ombré Dreams collection. I just love the patterns and the colours!

On my layout I have used three different Blue Fern Studios chipboards; Memory frames, Petite Windows and Wild Flourish Bundle. The papers from the Ombré Dreams collections are Leslie's Dream and Julianna's Dream. The chipboards are painted in white gesso.





And then I have made a card using the Ombré Dreams collection. The chipboards are Royal Monarchs and Broken Rings. The butterfly is painted with white gesso and the rings are misted with purple and pink mixing together.




I hope you enjoyed the project! Make sure to pop in here again the day after tomorrow to see more inspiration from the design team.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Our May Sketch Challenge Winners & Features!

It's that exciting day of the month when we announce the prize winner and Top 3 Features for our monthly sketch challenge! We had so many lovely entries in our May Sketch Challenge, and as always we appreciate your fabulous work!

Let's start off with the winner of our chipboard prize pack:


Our lucky winner via Random.org...


Congrats to Star77!!
Please contact me {erin@bluefernstudios.com} within 7 days to claim your prize!!

*~*~*~*~*

And of course we have 3 amazing layouts to feature from this sketch challenge as well!

 


Congrats to ALL of you amazing girls and your incredible work!! 
{You can visit their blogs by clicking on the designer's name above their photo.} 

*~*~*~*~*

If YOU would like to be our monthly sketch winner or one of our features, then come and play along! We have another wonderful sketch for you in our current sketch challenge and we'd be delighted to have you :)

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Delicate vs Grunge.. Which do you prefer!!

Hi there. Lisa here. I love both delicate and grunge depending on my mood!!!! Sometimes I love to get all delicate and dreamy and other times I want to get all messy and dirty. But my messy and dirty kind of comes out elegant!! Today, I have 2 layouts to share with you using both styles. The first one is  a little bit of Grunge. Kind of Steampunk. The Techno Rings brought out the grunge in me.


I wanted an old worn look to the Techno Rings, so I used a gold based 2 toned spray to achieve that effect. Very simple but very striking.


I fell in love with the little keys in the Spare Parts set, that reminded me of the ones used to wind up old toys. In my fantasy layout, they are winding up the hot air balloons for flight.


The second layout is my interpretation of the June Sketch Challenge. 


  I didn't want to place to many embellishments on the page as the Rose Border is so elegant and I didn't want to distract from its beauty.



Here is a close up of the Rose Border. I absolutely love the delicate cuts in this piece. I primed it with gesso and then painted misting sprays on the individual designs when the gesso dried.


My 3rd layout was created after  day spent at the beach. I was just so inspired by the beautiful colors of a sunny day, and the blue green colors of the Gulf water. I used Ombre Dreams paper in Gingers Dream.


  I used the outer part of the Damask Panel under my layered paper.I primed it with white acrylic paint and then sprayed it with Lindy's Starburst Spray in Shabby Turbine Teal and Rusty Lantern Lime.



 On the Bordeaux Layered Frame , (under the resin frame) I only used 1 part of the set. The other piece was used in another layout. You don't "have" to use the set as one. I got 2 pieces out of it! I primed it with white acrylic paint. When the paint was dry, I applied a crackle medium to it. Once the crackle paint was dry, I sprayed it with 2 colors of Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Sprays. Shabby Turbine Teal (from the Industrial Chic collection), and bit of California Golden Poppy. I sprayed some gauze  using the same colors as in the frame. I tucked it under the photo and around the frame. The Seaside Shells Chipboard and the Seaside Treasures coral piece were all primed and sprayed.


Thank you for coming and taking a peek at the blog today. I hope that you were inspired to create a project of your own using Blue Fern Studios chip board and papers.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

June Sketch Challenge!

Yep, a new month has crept up on us, and to keep the ball- and the days- rolling, we're starting it off with a brand new sketch challenge! 

As always, the wonderful Michele Singh has designed for you another inspiring and beautiful sketch:

June Sketch

And of course our design team has been hard at work whipping up some inspiration to jumpstart your creativity! 

You will notice plenty of Ombré Dreams projects in the mix :)

Camilla Ekman

Joyce Lawrence

Kelly Foster

Keren Tamir

Leila Cardoso

Patter Cross

Jelissa Mei

Marie-Josee Hamel

Jackie Clark

Lisa Gregory

Lisa Griffith

Yuko Tanaka

And we have a brand NEW batch of goodies for you too- including some of our NEWEST designs, hot off the press! Take a look at what one lucky randomly drawn winning participant will win from this month's sketch challenge:


In addition to our prize winner, we will also select a Top 3 to feature in our winner post!
 
We have just a few simple rules to follow if you would like to participate in our sketch challenge:
1.) Feel free to interpret the sketch as you please by means of taking it as-is or flipping/turning/mirroring it to suit your needs! **Please note that you can do whatever type of project you please- a layout, card, tag, canvas, altered item- whatever suits your mood and style! We would love to see the different ways our sketch can be used.**

2.) You must use at least one piece of Blue Fern Studios chipboard OR use Blue Fern Studios paper on your project. Please note that you do not need to use the pieces featured in the sketch- use whatever suits your fancy! You can find the store nearest you HERE. {Do not use any other brand of chipboard on your project please!}

3.) Upload your project using the Inlinkz tool below by midnight EST on June 30th, 2014.
We look forward to your entries!